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How are social identity, power, and academic literacy related?

 When I think about these three terms and their relationship I cannot help but call to mind the well-known quote: “knowledge is power”. When students are challenged in school, especially with regards to academic literacy, because of their social identity and their primary discourse, they often don’t feel powerful. However, when students feel that they are making progress in their learning or when they feel that they have an active role in their learning they tend to feel less helpless and more powerful. Towards the end of my semester in my student teaching placement, one of the students who frequently disengaged during class and was even habitually disruptive told me that he really enjoyed having a student-led discussion. I had brought up the conversation with him because I noticed how well he did with it the previous day. He commented that he loved having class like that; he said that normally he feels like he has no freedom and that he wished class could always be as stimulating as it was during the student-led discussion. During that class this student felt powerful; he felt like he played an active role in his learning and he really enjoyed it and was energized by it. He seemed to identify himself as a student and he felt not only that he belonged but that he was a part of a community of learners. This was such an amazing experience for me because it truly affirmed so much of what I have been learning in my classes. In this moment I saw how learning is empowering and once students get a taste of it, they crave more.

 That experience was wonderful, but unfortunately it was rare. Most of the time I witness students who do not feel powerful at all in school. They do not see themselves as students, instead they wish they could go home and not be forced to stay in school. I think many of these students identify more with their home environment and cultural backgrounds more than their role in school.

 I think one of the best ways to help students view themselves as having ownership over their learning while still retaining their social identity is to learn about individual students, their home, culture, and primary discourse. In learning more about students teachers can help to make them feel like they belong in school. They should understand that their primary discourse is not incorrect, but that another discourse (standard English) is the one that will be expected and accepted throughout school and professional life. I think students appreciate when you take the time not only to get to know them, but also when you are honest and up-front with them about their education. In my experience, students are extremely perceptive—they know when they are not being spoken to honestly or when their teachers are being inauthentic.

 The last thing that I have been meditating on is the idea that while these three ideas seem connected to me in very obvious ways, I don’t think my students would automatically make the same connections. I wonder how students might be able to come to these conclusions and make these connections on their own. I think a lot of this comes from the teachers they experience and where they place the value of their education in their personal lives. I hope that as I enter into my professional career I can work with students to realize that they can feel powerful and be in charge of their own learning while never forgetting the importance of the influence of their primary discourse and social identity.